Heath Ledger's life - in photos
Hollywood actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at his home in Manhattan. We look back at his short but successful career.
Hollywood actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at his Manhattan home. Ledger started out in TV in his native Australia on shows such as Home and Away before going to Hollywood, where he appeared on the arm of leading ladies like Heather Graham.nextpage
"He was found unconscious at the apartment and pronounced dead," the New York Police Department said, adding that pills were found near the body.nextpage
Police are reportedly investigating if the actor died of an overdose of prescription pills. Ledger's early films included Ned Kelly, alongside Orlando Bloom.nextpage
Ledger's famous girlfriends included King Kong actress and fellow Australian Naomi Watts.nextpage
Ledger played one of The Brothers Grimm alongside Matt Damon in Terry Gilliam's imaginative movie of 2005.
Ledger's best known and undoubtedly most acclaimed role to date was as the inarticulate and volatile ranch hand Ennis in Brokeback Mountain. His character became romantically entangled with a rodeo cowboy, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, in 1960s Wyoming in a story of doomed love.nextpage
Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. On set, he worked with Michelle Williams, with whom he has a two-year-old daughter, Matilda. They split in September.
Ledger recently played Bob Dylan in I'm Not There and was due to appear as The Joker in the latest Batman film. Father Kim Ledger said that the death of his 28-year-old "dearly loved son" had been "tragic" and "accidental". He added that his son had been a "down to earth, generous, kind hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual".
